Chapter 21#
As soon as this thought was born, it grew rapidly in Jing Xinglan’s mind like weeds.
That’s right, the time Jing Hua Shui Yue terminated his contract and the time Yan Heqing’s Song of the Earth began serialization differed by almost no more than a week. Why couldn’t these two seemingly unrelated authors be the same person?
If it weren’t because they knew Jing Hua Shui Yue’s level, for a small website like Liuliu Web, twelve million for full rights would probably be something they couldn’t even dream of, so how could they be so tough as to reject it directly?
The more Jing Xinglan thought about it, the more possible it seemed. His eyes gradually lit up, and a smile appeared on his face as he looked at Qiao Jing: “I understand. Since the author doesn’t want to sell, then forget it. Twelve million is indeed a bit too little.”
Qiao Jing looked at this person oddly as his attitude suddenly shifted rapidly, still looking happy after being rejected. He thought the man might have lost his mind.
He closed the door expressionlessly.
But after returning home, the more Jing Xinglan thought, the more he felt something was wrong.
Putting aside how different the writing style of Song of the Earth was from Jing Hua Shui Yue’s original works, even if Jing Hua Shui Yue suddenly wanted to transition, where did he get those materials that couldn’t be found online at all?
008 stood with its paws on its hips proudly: Because of me, of course!
Jing Xinglan really wanted to ask Qiao Jing directly: Is Yan Heqing actually Jing Hua Shui Yue’s alternate account?
But he also knew that Qiao Jing wouldn’t tell him.
“If Yan Heqing really is Jing Hua Shui Yue…”
The man stroked the signed copy of Great Physician of the Common People that he had reassembled and glued back together, his gaze deep.
To put it without exaggeration, in this book, Jing Xinglan felt as if he saw another version of himself in the world.
This was also why Jing Xinglan was so reverent and obsessed with Jing Hua Shui Yue—while reading, he always had a feeling of soul resonance with the author, as if they had once sat together intimately, talking face-to-face.
Jing Xinglan silently clenched his fist:
This time, he would definitely protect the world’s best Teacher Jing Hua Shui Yue!
“A-choo! A-choo!”
Qiao Jing sneezed twice.
Just now, he suddenly felt a chill attack his back.
Was it a cold?
008 didn’t notice Qiao Jing’s deep thoughts. It wagged its tail and said, “The reputation points have reached five hundred thousand. It seems there are still quite a few readers who only read but don’t favorite.”
“Is that so.”
“And readers are very curious whether this book has a female lead,” 008, as Qiao Jing’s number one reader, had its round blue eyes flashing with curiosity, “So is there one? Or do you plan to write it as ’no CP’ (no romance)?”
Qiao Jing’s face stiffened for a moment.
If there was one area where he, as an author, was least skilled…
It must be the emotional line.
Readers who like Jing Hua Shui Yue’s novels would praise the author’s good writing, grand worldview, smooth and exciting plot, and the protagonist’s high IQ and focus on their career… but only Qiao Jing himself knew that he really, truly didn’t know how to write romance.
“Let’s leave it to fate,” in the end, he could only say this. “A very important female character is about to debut, but I’m not sure if she counts as the female lead.”
And to be honest, with a personality like Yang Liu’s, was he really suited for dating?
“Then what does she do?” 008 asked.
Qiao Jing blinked and said slowly, “A doctor.”
Although Qiao Jing couldn’t write romance, his character portrayal was almost unrivaled in the web novel world.
As soon as the character Aliyah debuted, she immediately received unanimous praise from the readers.
“A beautiful Xinjiang sister with big eyes and thick eyebrows! And she’s a doctor!”
“Heavens, finally an author is willing to look at us ethnic minorities. This is the first time I’ve seen a Xinjiang girl in a novel.”
“Yang Liu is once again, again, and again despised! Hahaha, it’s true, his small frame doesn’t look like much to us Uyghurs.”
“Betting everything on the Xinjiang sister! Yang Liu, show some spirit for the brothers. Doing scholarship is one thing, but you can’t be solitary forever!”
“I thought of Wu Zhining again. Sigh, to be honest, I still prefer the gentle type of girl.”
“White moonlight versus cinnabar mole? I’ll take both, but the author must absolutely not let the protagonist open a harem or have a ‘shura field’ (love triangle/conflict); that’s too distressing to watch.”
" +1, 1v1 is fine. If Yang Liu really steps on several boats (cheats), I’ll drop the story. The character design would be completely ruined."
“You guys are thinking too much. So far, all characters in this book, male or female, are independent characters with flesh and blood. The author is writing well; how could he suddenly open a harem?”
From the comment section to the forums to Weibo, because of the new character Aliyah, countless readers engaged in heated discussions.
But for those who discovered the true value of Song of the Earth, Aliyah represented more than just a potential female lead or a popular supporting character; she represented a brand-new field with infinite possibilities—
Biomedicine!
“God has manifested,” in a top university abroad, an old woman who had won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine knelt before a statue of Christ, devoutly holding the cross on her chest and praying. “It must be a gift from the divine… thank you for looking after us…”
Her name was Elizabeth McLeod, and her other name was Bai Liya.
Elizabeth’s grandfather was a practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), and her family had been dedicated to the medical profession for generations. Elizabeth had studied acupuncture and TCM-related knowledge with her grandfather since childhood, so her Chinese was very fluent.
While other scholars were still troubled by the poor translation of Song of the Earth or didn’t even know of the book’s existence, she not only completely understood what Yan Heqing wrote but was also deeply fascinated by this brilliant story.
She believed that only those with a devout heart and true benevolence and love were qualified to interpret this great work.
Therefore, when the intelligence department personnel in her country finally woke up and came to ask Elizabeth to join the research team targeting Song of the Earth, Elizabeth refused them without hesitation, even coldly shutting out all the staff members who still wanted to persuade her.
“I have my own research plan,” she said coldly to those people. “I’m not interested in the author’s identity and don’t want to know. If you come to find me again, don’t blame me for taking a gun and sending you for a visit to my private hospital!”
This was an anthem for humanity and should not be so desecrated by them.
“The evil of man arises from greed; the goodness of man lies in dedication.” After the prayer, the old woman came to her senses, propped herself up with a cane, stood up tremblingly from the pad, and looked up at the statue of Christ, her eyes flashing with excited light. “Merciful Christ, please forgive my compatriots who are still in ignorance. You have already led us to take the first step in exploring the mysteries of life; how can they still hope for more?”
“—Let us humans walk the remaining ninety-nine steps ourselves.”
Similar scenes occurred almost simultaneously in different corners of the world.
And this was exactly the effect Qiao Jing wanted to achieve.
He was, after all, only a writer and couldn’t spoon-feed all the research results to researchers in a novel like feeding a baby. Moreover, he was not a professional or a scientist; even with 008’s advantage, he certainly couldn’t compare to those scholars who had spent most of their lives studying in their respective fields.
But sometimes, what they lacked was just a spark of inspiration, a direction for research.
Qiao Jing only helped them pry open a gap, letting the light of truth shine into the darkness, guiding them on the way forward.
Just as stated in Song of the Earth, humanity is a great life form with infinite upward and downward possibilities, possessing both the eyes of a demon and the heart of an angel.
Even without Qiao Jing, humanity would still continue to climb upward, stumbling but creating countless incredible miracles.
“I’m curious,” Aliyah asked Yang Liu a question in the text. “For a genius like you, what does the ideal future look like?”
“My ideal future…”
Yang Liu put his hands in his pockets, gazing at the distant city skyline. After a long silence, he revealed a longing smile.
“It’s a song.”
“A song?”
“Yes,” Yang Liu lowered his head, pulled out his phone, and opened the recording interface, but his finger hovered over the play button and didn’t press it for a long time. “I hope one day, I can sit somewhere—a university campus, a park bench, or an office corridor, anywhere is fine—and calmly listen once more to this final song my friend sang for me.”
And then tell her that I didn’t fail her expectations.
This country, this world, this beautiful blue planet, has really become better because of him.
After reading this passage, while countless readers sighed with regret for the young girl who died in her prime, they were also more curious—
What exactly is the identity of the author who can write such a brilliant work?
How old is he? What kind of profession is he engaged in? What kind of life experience does he have?
For a time, the official Weibo of Liuliu Web received countless reader comments and private messages.
“Let Yan Heqing hold a book signing!”
“When will the physical book of Song of the Earth come out? I want the author’s signature!”
“This novel is too suitable for adaptation into an anime! Many ‘God-tier’ artists have already produced fan works; are you really not considering making it into an anime?”
“Live-action… to be honest, I don’t want to see a live-action version, but if the author can get the copyright fees, I’d also be very happy. I just hope you must, must find actors that fit the original work!”
" +1, after all, I still hope to see an anime version in my lifetime. 2D characters are the best!"
Don’t Pigeon: He wants to, of course!
He dreamed of helping the big shot sell copyrights and receive a big red envelope, but the boss wouldn’t let him!
With no other choice, for various reasons, the sale of copyrights remained undecided. Readers who couldn’t wait had to “cut their own leg meat” (produce fan works) with tears—writing fanfiction, drawing fanart, and even some individuals singing character songs and making hand-drawn video edits.
For a time, various outputs emerged one after another.
Many people who hadn’t even heard of this book were attracted by the fans’ “love-generated power,” starting to gradually understand the plot and characters of this book and falling into the pit from then on, unable to stop.
—After several months of accumulation and development, in the late stage of serialization, Song of the Earth finally welcomed a true, network-wide explosion in popularity!